Bardlerx Strictly average movie

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Alex da Silva Noel Coward is captain of HMS Torrin, a British Navy destroyer, and he expects his crew to obey his philosophy. His ships are happy and efficient, so he likes to believe. The story is told in flashbacks as survivors cling to a dinghy after HMS Torrin is sunk.It's a propaganda film that is meant to rouse feelings of discipline and dedication to country in time of war. Everyone seems to put the ship before themselves or their loved ones. Even the sailor's wives put the ship first and understand that there is a higher purpose beyond their own personal happiness. From that perspective, it's all a bit ghastly for me, I'm afraid. I found the film dragged and also was very choppy – a bit here then another bit there. It could have had a more focused storyline.All the women are pretty awful in this. Celia Johnson who plays Coward's wife speaks in that laughably bad clipped English and seaman John Mill's mother as depicted by Kathleen Harrison (Mrs Blake) is just plain annoying. Coward's delivery is machine gunned at you so it's not always clear what he is saying. However, set against this, there is some amusing dialogue in parts. Overall, the film is too long and I'm not sure about the propaganda message of join the war effort and expect heartbreak. Err, OK, it's a no thanks from me then.

chrissso I am amazed that so many IMDb reviewers feel this film has aged well??? What I saw was a film that is rotten from age and reeks of standards left behind! Seriously, the picture quality is horrible … the sound quality is bad … the acting quality is horrible (especially Noel Coward who mumbles his lines at a thousand miles per hour) … the special effects (battle scenes) are sophomoric (unless you like those little models flipping over in tanks) … and mostly the scripted was horrible (not all Brits were such morons).I get this was an important propaganda film for Great Britain's WW2 efforts (thus the "honorary award" at the 43 Oscars) yet this film can't stand in the same room with its contemporaries (Mrs. Miniver won best picture in 42 & Casablanca won it in 44). So ya, shelf life expired … do not waste your time ... 2/10!

MattyGibbs I wasn't expecting much from this film and the slow start didn't heighten my expectations. However I stuck with it and am glad I did. It builds gradually and eventually becomes incredibly absorbing. It follows the survivors of a sunken warship as they float in the sea waiting to be rescued. Using flashbacks it shows their lives back home and on the ship before it sank. The stories are often mundane but show how life must have been at this tumultuous time in history. It boasts a strong cast featuring John Mills, Noel Coward and Celia Johnson who all bring life to the script. There are a number of very moving scenes as the true horror of the war is bought alive. As this was filmed whilst the war was still in full flow I can only imagine how the audience at the time, many of whom would have had family fighting abroad, must have felt. This is an unusual war film in that it shows little fighting but the stories of courage and determination more than make up for this. One of the best war films I have seen, Highly recommended.

l_rawjalaurence Based mostly on the experiences of Lord Mountbatten on HMS Kelly, IN WHICH WE SERVE is a classic British flag-waver from 1943, attesting to the bravery and sheer grit of captain and crew as they struggle to survive after their ship has been sunk by a German torpedo. Structured as a series of flashbacks, the narrative focuses on different members of the crew from different socio-economic backgrounds: the bourgeois Captain Kinross (Noel Coward) leading a comfortable family life with his wife (Celia Johnson), and two children (Daniel Massey, Ann Stephens); the middle-class Chief Petty Officer Hardy (Bernard Miles), living with his wife (Joyce Carey) and her mother; and the working-class Ordinary Seaman Blake (John Mills) living in a modest terraced house with his family. While the film is redolent of the class-consciousness characteristic of that period (there is little no possibility of anyone wanting to improve themselves), it depicts a changing world in which everyone pulls together, both on the battle-front and at home. The loyalty and dedication of Kinross' crew is quite admirable, even under adverse circumstances: when one member (Richard Attenborough) steps out of line and neglects his duty, he is sternly admonished and never does it again. On the Home Front the crew members' wives and families stoically endure the pain of separation, while realizing that such experiences have to be endured during wartime. Even when Hardy loses his wife and mother (both victims of the Blitz), he vows to carry on at his post regardless. As Kinross, Noel Coward is a model of rectitude, as he tries to do the best for his crew; yet from the clever use of close-up, we understand the depth of emotion lurking underneath that British reserve, especially at the end when he says goodbye to his crew- members. IN WHICH WE SERVE is noticeably unsentimental in its approach: co-directors Coward and David Lean are not frightened to represent the seamier sides of life in World War II, while paying tribute to the bravery of everyone, whether on active service or remaining at home. It is this detachment from the material that makes the film so watchable, even after seventy years.